Tensile mechanical properties, constitutive parameters and fracture characteristics of an as-cast AA7050 alloy in the near-solidus temperature regime

The knowledge on constitutive mechanical behavior at the temperatures close to the solidus is essential for predicting high-temperature deformation and fracture, e.g. cold and hot cracking of aluminum alloys. In this work we studied the tensile mechanical properties of an as-cast AA7050 alloy in a near-solidus temperature regime. Tensile tests were carried out using Gleeble-3800™ system at temperatures from 400 to 465 °C and at strain rates from 0.0005 to 0.05 s⁻¹. The results show that the strength decreases with increasing temperature and decreasing strain rate. Meanwhile, ductility decreases with the increase of temperature and strain rate. The constitutive parameters were extracted by fitting the test data to the extended-Ludwik and creep-law equations. The parameters for the extended-Ludwik equation are continuous with the values from a lower temperature regime obtained earlier, while the parameters for the creep-law equation are comparable with those obtained on other 7XXX aluminum alloys. We observed a change in fracture mode at 450 °C; from ductile transgranular to intergranular. This temperature coincides with the discontinuity point of the temperature-ductility slope. On the fracture surface of a sample that was deformed at 465 °C with a strain rate of 0.0005 s⁻¹, we observed features characteristic of micro-superplasticity. Considering the test conditions, viscous flows of incipient melt or liquid-like substances are suggested to be responsible for the formation of this feature.